When starting with the flagship you can choose which island to settle. You want to choose an island with the potato and wheat fertility that also has a decent size, a so called start islands. Each world will generate with 4 such islands, if you spot one, its most likely the best to just settle. Dont waste too much time looking for the perfect island, because if there was a better start island it is likely already taken by an opponent, once you get there.

Use your starting wood to have both a market place and some houses. If you built houses without a market, they will decay soon, kicking off a vicious cycle. No houses => No workforce => No wood => No houses. In worst case you are locked.

When starting with a trading post, you start also with 20 fish. So it is not necessary to build a fishing hut right away. As long as you have fish in storage, you better invest your wood in houses.

When starting with a flagship, you have the opportunity to immediately start exploring. Try to find the neutral traders, and take quests to get valueable rewards. Thanks to the flagship, you are also equipped to even do early escort quests. More about map exploration in the section below.

Until the police station is unlocked, no strikes can break out. So change the working conditions to maximum overclocking everywhere in the early game.

When starting with a trading post, you will need to get a shipyard as fast as possible. So keep 10000$ at hand to be able to buy the shipyard right away when it becomes available.

When you look at unexplored areas at an shallow angle, you will be able to see islands through the fog.

When you discover the priates island, she will declare war on you. Avoid that at all cost. You can recognize the pirates island through the fog by the four squere towers at the center.

Archiebald is the most important neutral trader in the early phase of the game. He can be identified in the fog by his manor on on an otherwise roundish island. If you manage to find him before the others, you get the opportunity to buy steel beams⚙️ early. Grab as many as you can.

Once you get your first workers, immediately start producing Bricks. Dont forget to overclock your brick production.

Once you fall below -5000$ for the first time, you will get 25000$ for free from Archiebald. If you are short on money, you can trigger this on purpose by stopping the consumption of all goods. This comes with the downside that you wont be able to build for a few minutes, but at the end your storage will be full and you get the money.

When starting with a trading post, getting access to the ocean is the number one priority. Dont spend bricks on anything else. Dont fullfill quests that cost bricks.

When starting with the flagship, you do not need to rush ship building. You can spend some bricks on other things.

Producing Sails takes some time, therefore start as soon as possible and dont forget to overclock them. It costs 10🧱.

The shipyard costs 10000$ and 25🧱. If you have an idle shipyard, produce Schooners and sell them to Archiebald or Kahina for 2500$ each.

Building a Bread🥖 or Sausage🌭 production chain costs 15🧱 each, you will need them both to advance to artisans, but since the sausages earn their investment back way faster delay building the bread chain.
Facts:
Sausage🌭 Building Cost: 1125$+15🧱 Earnings: 80$/min. ROI: 7.1%
Bread🥖 Building Cost: 4940$+15🧱 Earnings: 230$/min. ROI: 4.7%

Crating a basic steel industry with a mine, a charcoal kiln, a furnace and steelworks costs 25🧱 + 2800$ and has an significant workforce requirement and maintainance cost.

Producing Sails takes some time, therefore start as soon as possible and dont forget to overclock them. It costs 10🧱.

The shipyard costs 10000$ and 25🧱. You can use the shipyard to earn money to produce Schooners and sell them to Archiebald or Kahina for 2500$ each. ROI: 8.3%

Building the soap production chain costs 12⚙️ and and it is profitable to sell excess soap at the prison.
Facts: (not including shipping cost)
Soap🧼 Building Cost: 2750$+12⚙️ Earnings consumption: 750$/min. ROI: 27.3%; Earnings Sell at prison: 558$/min ROI: 20.3%

If you gather 8⚙️ you can settle another island. This is a situational play. If you do you can gain access to more fertilities and minespots you will need sooner or later. Especially if one of your opponents settles aggressively you should do the same. In this phase of the game islands with the hops fertility are most interresting, since it enables you to build the optional beer chain, which is decent but by no means a requirement. It is often better to dedicate the first steel for more important things.
Facts: (not including shipping cost)
Beer🍺 Building Cost: 6880$+12⚙️ Earnings consumption: 650$/min. ROI: 9.4%

Once you have steel you get closer to artisans, but you are not quite there. To get artisans you need sausages, bread, soap and the school. The school costs 20⚙️ and 2500$. Upgrading the first artisan house will cost another 2⚙️.
While it unlocks beef and expeditions, you should also be prepared for the pirates declaring war on you once you get artisans.

Once you get the first artisans, you immediately unlock expeditions to the new world and Enbesa. While the expedition to Enbesa is optional, you schould be ready to send the expedition to the new world as soon as possible. To be on the safe side you need a Schooner or the Flagship with a stack of 50 wood planks and a stack of 50 schnaps. Position that ship at the southwest edge of the map before getting you first artisans, so it wont be intercepted by pirates. For the Enbesan expedition do the same at the southeast edge of the map.

Especially when you start with a trading post, now is the time to build your first military ships. Once you have the first artisans, the pirate will declare war on you, even if you avoided discovering her so far. In order to get military ships, you need a weapon factory. The weapon factory costs 8⚙️ and 700$.

Workers have an optional beef need. Once you unlock beef along with the canned food production chain. You should immediately start producing beef and activate the beef need for your workers. You have to activate the beef need manually for each island.
Facts:
Beef🐄 Building Cost: 2000$ Earnings consumption: 150$/min. ROI: 7.5%